The definition of the educational purposes and goals of USJ is based on the organizational 5-year strategic planning, together with the set of comprehensive graduate attributes already established, which serve as the basis for programmes’ objectives and intended learning outcomes of each module and are presented in this Section.
Educational purpose
The educational purpose of USJ is aligned with the University’s ethos, mission and vision and is stated as follows:
The University of Saint Joseph’s educational purpose is to create a multicultural, international University in, of and for Macao, in, of and for China, with a catholic ethos and the development of ethical values for a socially, culturally, and environmentally sustainable society, following the highest international standards in education, research, and innovation.
Educational goals
During the recent implementation of the quality assurance culture at USJ, the university’s educational goals were mapped in terms of graduate attributes to be followed by all the academic units, and a common baseline was created for achieving the proposed educational goals.
The six Educational Goals at USJ are:
| Education Goal 1 | To create a higher education environment of excellence based on intellectual rigour and quality education. |
| Education Goal 2 | To develop a broad community based on knowledge, understanding, respect, commitment, and practice about moral, ethical and social values at the personal, social and professional levels. |
| Education Goal 3 | To prepare professionals with knowledge and skills to effectively identify and creatively generate solutions to local and global challenges considering systematic and rigorous investigation, processes and procedures. |
| Education Goal 4 | To create autonomous self-learning professionals aiming to match self-sustainability, targeting the service to society and change by effectively creating new thoughts through the process of research and inquiry. |
| Education Goal 5 | To prepare socially responsible people who are committed and engaged with the societal challenges within their local community or in a global context. |
| Education Goal 6 | To develop critical thinking related to the responsible use of technology, with positive and critical perspectives, to develop the common good and enhance human capabilities. |
Each educational goal is stated as a foundation for setting the university’s graduate attributes and as an operational guideline for the academic units, the students, and the academic community in general.
Graduate attributes have been adopted by higher education institutions for more than two decades. They indicate the major distinguishing features of the university’s graduates, guide the development, direction, and intended outcomes of programmes, and guide students’ experiences at the university. Programmes and modules should consider these attributes, creating an alignment with all the learning, development and experiences that students have whilst at USJ, as part of life and as preparation for life beyond and after university.
Graduate Attributes also play a role in accountability; USJ is accountable to its students who enrol in its programmes, ensuring that they are aware of what the University strives to provide and achieve for its graduates, what characterises the University, and what ‘kind’ of graduates exit from USJ, with what kind of outlook on life, people, learning and the community.
The detailed document can be accessed in 1.2.3. Graduate Attributes
Formulation of the educational purposes and goals
As is to be expected, universities frame their Educational Goals differently. However, it is possible to see many common features, e.g., educational purpose, mission, vision, identification of essential skills, competencies, person-related matters, social development, attitudes and motivation, ethical development and responsibility, considering the all-round development of students as members of their societies.
In developing USJ’s educational goals, the university examined examples from leading universities worldwide, but it always considered similar foundational beliefs as a familiarisation exercise in terms of scope, derivation, content, and framing.
The second step was carefully considering the USJ mission, vision, strategic development plan, and academic units’ objectives and plans.
From that analysis, it was possible to decide how to frame the Educational Goals, resulting in a list of six major areas to be addressed, each one characterised by a concise and comprehensive description, to generally address all programmes at USJ, from Pre-University to Doctorate.
The goal statements were drafted and then circulated for discussion within the University’s units, from the higher administration to the academic units, who provided feedback and new suggestions until the final list was proposed. As part of this, decisions were taken on: (a) which elements of each educational goal should be set out at the University level and which at the Faculty and programme levels; (b) how to strike a balance between too little and too much detail and prescription, to ensure that the goals reflect the university beliefs and long term vision and mission without being too long to be remembered or clearly understood; (c) how these goals could be applied to each level of award (e.g. undergraduate, Master’s etc.); and (d) how these fitted into operational levels at the university such as quality assurance, programme and the University’s review, development and accreditation.